• Author: Jim Butcher
• Series: The Dresden Files #1
• No. of pages: 336
• Dates read: 18.04.20 – 24.04.20
• Rating: 2.5 stars

Plot: Harry is the best at what he does – and not just because he’s the only one who does it. So whenever the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal capabilities, they look to him for answers. But business isn’t just slow, it stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry’s seeing dollar signs. But where there’s black magic, there’s a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry’s name. And that’s when things start to get . . . interesting.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. Overall, I feel like it had so much going for it but certain elements of the book that I didn’t like overshadowed what worked really well.

I thought the plot was really interesting, what made me continue reading this book was the desire to find out who the murderer was and why they committed they the crime.

I thought the world-building was good. There was a bit of info dumping at the beginning but I don’t mind that. I love anything that will help me get a better view of the world in the book. I especially loved learning about the abilities and limitations of wizards.

But, sadly that was overshadowed by a couple of things. Mainly to do with the characters. I personally couldn’t connect to Dresden, I found him quite boring. I am not a massive fan of down and out PI or police officer characters, I rarely connect to these characters.

Also, because this story is first-person POV and we are following the inner monologue of Dresden, which I personally struggled with, I subsequently couldn’t connect to the story as a whole. He had to sell the story for me and it just didn’t work.

In this book I only really liked 1 female character out of the 5 that we were introduced to. Sadly, these women were not very layered or varied for me. Most of them, in my opinion, were overly sexualised even to the point that their flirty conversations with Dresden made me cringe and I felt uncomfortable. Also, I felt there was the stereotype that if you are a sex worker or were a sex worker you suddenly have this overly flirtatious and sexy personality all the time with anyone you meet, which just didn’t feel right for me. While that may be the case with some sex workers that is not the case for all of them and it felt like a massive generalisation.

Unfortunately, these characters all came across very 2 dimensional and the female character I did like, Murphy, landed under the “you’re too cute to be working a man’s job” stereotype. Every time I began to enjoy the book the female characters and their many cringey and flirty interactions with Dresden or the mention of their breasts just pulled me right out of the story.

Overall, I don’t think I will continue this series as I didn’t care for the main character and the female characters we met felt like over-sexualised 2D stereotype.

The next book I will be reviewing is House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig. This is a dark re-telling of the 12 Dancing Princesses one of my favourite fairy tales of all time!